1. In the last week, we bought a Zojirushi "fuzzy logic" rice cooker, a vacuum cleaner (an Electrolux!) and a reading chair. We also shelled out for a five-and-a-half-foot tall, carpeted, multi-platformed "cat tree," which Saba loves. Those are all relatively large ticket items for us. We also passed on our desk (to my brother) and its accompanying chair to make room for the new chair. We have yet to buy a reading lamp and ottoman. Maybe we'll also get a throw pillow. Who knows? The sky's the limit.
This week we'll be cleaning the casita and rearranging furniture to make a little reading nook and we'll also be using our new rice cooker to make what I call "faux-yakudon" (a play on oyakudon--a type of Japanese chicken dish served on rice--though ours will be made with Quorn instead of chicken).
2. Two nights ago I had a dream that there was construction going on all around our house--and then yesterday afternoon Kevin came over to tell us that two guys were going to come and build a new wall around our patio. Today those two guys are outside ripping out the old fence and digging the foundation for the new wall, listening to some oldies station on their boom box, and removing some old, overgrown plants from our old patio. Strange prophetic dream, no?
3. I've been working, teaching a lot. The classes are full to the brim because the people who signed up only have until the end of December to take their class. Last Saturday there were nine students. There are ten this Saturday. Ten students doesn't sound like a lot, but it is. It's a lot a lot.
Dave and I teach together, but I do the demos and hence provide most of the patter. The other potters in the studio (the ones who've known me for years) have a good laugh at some of the things I say. There are a lot of hand positions that are used in throwing and to teach people one of them, I told them to pretend they were Miss America and do that stupid, closed-fingers, fake wave that beauty queens do. That exact hand position is perfect for one stage of wheel throwing. There's another time when I tell people to use their middle finger to do something and I call that particular finger "my driving finger."
It just comes, the patter. One of the women in the studio said to me, "You're one of those people who can't do uncomfortable silences, aren't you?" And I was, like, you know, I hate uncomfortable silences. What use are they? You are an adult; you should be able to hold up your end of a fucking conversation.
Anyway, like I said, lots of teaching.
4. Like fools, we went to Costco. I say "like fools" because all the monkeys were there to fill up their carts with crap they need for Thanksgiving. We were there to fill up our carts with this stuff:
Water filters, Brussels sprouts, nashi, honeycrisp apples, red peppers, broccoli, tomatoes, fuyu persimmons, yogurt, cottage cheese, bananas, cucumbers, San Pellegrino, and wine, lots of wine for Dave.
That's a week or ten days worth of produce right there ever since I've been dieting and living on fruits and vegetables.
5. And speaking of the diet, I'm going to need a belt soon. I've lost 17.5 pounds so far, 4.5 pounds last week alone. That's too fast, but it always goes fast at the beginning, no? Anyway, so today is part cheat day. That means we went out to eat at Sophia's Place and I had this:
Huevos rancheros with over-easy eggs, bacon, and red chile. I didn't eat the tortilla--not because I'm dieting, but because it seemed kind of gummy. (I'm used to the tougher whole wheat tortillas these days.)
Dave had the vegetarian version with red and green chile, over-hard eggs, and a kind of calabacitas on the side.
I had a big cup of coffee with breakfast, too.
That little guy is my new friend, purchased for fifty cents from a machine.
He's apparently a Bok Choy Boy (from the forbidden city).
I'm including that picture not because I think you need another picture of Bok Choy Boy, but so that you can see how trashed my hands are getting from throwing all the time and having my hands in water and clay. It's not pretty.
No comments:
Post a Comment